Plastics and the great Pacific garbage patch

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D o you know where the world`s largest landfill is located? It`s floating between California and Hawaii, about 1,000 miles from each, and is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It contains more than three tons of trash — mostly plastics — and reaches depths of nearly 100 feet in some places. The “patch,” which has been growing since the 1950s, is massive; estimated to be twice the size of Texas, it would take a week to boat across it.

A large, clock-wise circulation of wind-driven ocean currents, called a gyre, acts like a magnetic toilet bowl according to Heidi Pearson, PhD, assistant director of the Whale Center of New England. It attracts garbage from across the North Pacific and traps it in a perpetual swirling motion. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has tracked the Great Pacific Garbage Patch movement to some degree and scientists have observed that it moves as much as a thousand miles north and south in the Pacific seasonally, even further south during periods of El Nino.

The trash in our oceans is known as “marine debris” but according to Dr. Pearson, most of it doesn`t come from marine-based activities but from the land — and not just from litter left on beaches. It also comes from trash left on streets, in parks, parking lots, your back yard, an open garbage can or recycling bin – which washes or is blown into rivers, sewers or storm drains and is eventually carried to the ocean.

A study by Greenpeace revealed that at least 267different species, including seabirds, turtles, seals, sea lions, whales and fish, have suffered injury or death from entanglement in or ingestion of marine debris; it is often mistaken for prey and eaten. And this problem is not confined to the patch – from the Western Mediterranean to Southern Brazil to Florida, studies on dead sea turtles have found that the stomachs of from 56 to 79.6 percent of these turtles contain ingested marine debris.

Rusty Brainard, with NOAA, explains that plastic is a toxic killer. Since plastic is inorganic, it never completely decomposes. While it slowly breaks down, there are increasingly smaller bits of plastic that can be ingested by even very tiny animals, marine life and birds. Many dead seabirds are found to have guts filled with plastic. As larger animals and marine life eat smaller animals the plastic eventually ends up in the human food supply.

According to Dr. Pearson, much marine debris is made up of plastic bottles and plastic bags and in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 6 to1. She sites Americans` consumption of bottled water — nearly 50 billion bottles annually – more than any other country. Dr. Pearson points out that not only is there the issue of non-biodegradable waste, but the huge amounts of energy required for production — thirty billion barrels of oil, or put another way, the amount of oil required to make one plastic bottle would fill one quarter of the bottle itself which is far more energy than required to produce tap water.

Many people believe bottled water to be higher quality, cleaner and better tasting than tap water. But according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), bottled water is not safer than tap water, and is tested and regulated less. The EPA, which regulates public/municipal/tap water, requires multiple daily tests of the water and results are available to the public. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water, requires only weekly testing and does not share these results with the EPA or the public. And check the label – much bottled water comes from a municipal source anyway, so you are paying for the bottle, energy and labor when you can get the same water from your own kitchen sink.

But what about recycling plastics? Many people intend to recycle “disposable” water bottles but surveys show that 69 percent of bottled water containers end up in trash, not recycling containers. Plus, not all plastics are recyclable and those that are cannot be recycled indefinitely, so eventually end up as trash anyway.

So buy a reusable water bottle – now available in materials other than plastic – like stainless steel. Buy a faucet, under-sink or whole house water filter if you want to improve taste or reduce chlorine. Fill that bottle at your kitchen sink and take it with you – along with your re-usable shopping bags. It`s good for our home planet, the species with which we share it, your own health and your pocketbook! And it`s easy.

Thomas Beck has practiced architecture in Estes Park for more than twenty years and since his college days has been an advocate of alternative and renewable energy, as well as sustainable living and design. He has developed substantial expertise in the field and is known for his personal “off the grid” home. In addition to residential and commercial design he assists with energy audits and recommendations to weatherize and insulate your home, increase its energy efficiency and lower energy costs. For more information and articles on a variety of energy and sustainability topics visit http://twbeckarchitects.com/press.htm. For more information on Beck Architect`s services call (970) 586-3913.